Silver powder

ABSTRACT

There is provided a method for producing a silver powder having excellent dispersibility and capable of forming a paste which do not form suspended matters by phase separation and which is printed on a substrate to form a film having a uniform thickness. In this method, an alkali or a complexing agent is added to an aqueous silver salt containing solution to form a silver oxide containing slurry or an aqueous silver complex salt containing solution. After or before silver particles are deposited by reduction by adding a reducing agent to the silver oxide containing slurry or aqueous silver complex salt containing solution while stirring it, at least one chelating agent selected from the group consisting of compounds having an azole structure, dicarboxylic acids, hydroxy carboxylic acids and salts thereof is added to a silver power containing slurry solution as a dispersing agent.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a U.S. Divisional application of U.S. Pat. Ser. No.11/045,974 filed Jan. 28, 2005.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention generally relates to a silver powder and a methodfor producing the same. More specifically, the invention relates to asilver powder for a conductive paste for use in electronic parts, suchas internal electrodes of multilayer capacitors, conductive patterns ofcircuit boards, and electrodes and circuits of substrates for plasmadisplay panels, and a method for producing the same.

2. Description of the Prior Art

As a conventional conductive paste for use in electronic parts, such asinternal electrodes of multilayer capacitors, conductive patterns ofcircuit boards, and electrodes and circuits of substrates for plasmadisplay panels (PDP), there is used a silver paste produced by mixing asilver powder and a glass frit in an organic vehicle and kneading them.As the size of such electronic parts decreases, it is required that asilver powder for a conductive paste has reasonably small particlediameters and a reasonably narrow range of particle diameters in orderto form a conductive pattern or the like having a high density and finelines.

As a method for producing such a silver powder for a conductive paste,there is known a method for adding an alkali or a complexing agent to anaqueous silver salt containing solution to form a silver oxidecontaining slurry or an aqueous silver complex salt containing solution,and thereafter, adding a reducing agent to the silver oxide containingslurry or the aqueous silver complex salt containing solution to deposita silver powder by reduction.

However, the particles of the silver powder produced by such aconventional method violently cohere, so that there is a problem in thatthe silver powder can not be applied to recent electronic parts havingfine lines, such as internal electrodes of multilayer capacitors,conductive patterns of circuit boards, and electrodes and circuits ofsubstrates for plasma display panels.

Thus, in order to form a silver powder which includes a smaller numberof particles easy to cohere and which has excellent dispersibility,there has been proposed a method comprising the steps of: adding analkali or a complexing agent to an aqueous silver salt containingsolution to form a silver oxide containing slurry or an aqueous silvercomplex salt containing solution; adding a reducing agent thereto todeposit silver particles by reduction; and thereafter, adding at leastone of fatty acids, fatty acid salts, surface active agents, organicmetals and protective colloids, serving as a dispersing agent to thesilver containing slurry solution to form a silver powder (see, e.g.,Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-88206).

However, if the silver powder formed by adding a fatty acid, a surfaceactive agent or the like as a dispersing agent as described in JapanesePatent Laid-Open No. 10-88206 is used for preparing a paste, there aresome cases where the paste causes phase separation to form suspendedmatters. The suspended matters form pinholes in the film of the paste todecrease the density of the film after burning.

If a paste prepared by using the silver powder formed by adding a fattyacid, a surface active agent or the like as a dispersing agent asdescribed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-88206 is printed on asubstrate, there are some cases where the paste is not easily releasedfrom a screen plate, so that bubbles are drawn into the paste. As aresult, there are some cases where the thickness of the burned film isnot uniform, so that the value of resistance of the film varies.Therefore, such a paste is unsuitable for a conductive pattern.

In particular, in a conductive paste for use in an electrode of asubstrate for a plasma display panel, which is required to have a highdensity and fine lines, the decrease of the density of the film causessevere problems.

In addition, as a conductive paste used for forming an electrode of asubstrate for a plasma display panel, an alkali developablephotosensitive paste is ordinarily used. The alkali developablephotosensitive paste generally comprises an alkali soluble polymer, apolymerizable monomer, a photopolymerization initiator, a solvent, aglass frit and a stabilizer. However, the alkali soluble polymercontains a carboxyl group to have a high polarity, so that there areproblems in that bubbles are easily drawn into the paste during thescreen printing, and the thickness of the burned film is not uniform.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore an object of the present invention to eliminate theaforementioned problems and to provide a silver powder having excellentdispersibility and capable of forming a paste which do not formsuspended matters by phase separation and which is printed on asubstrate to form a film having a uniform thickness, and a method forproducing the same.

In order to accomplish the aforementioned and other objects, theinventors have diligently studied and found that it is possible toproduce a silver powder having excellent dispersibility and capable offorming a paste which do not form suspended matters by phase separationand which is printed on a substrate to form a film having a uniformthickness, if at least one chelating agent selected from compoundshaving an azole structure, dicarboxylic acids, hydroxy carboxylic acidsand salts thereof is added to a silver powder containing slurry solutionas a dispersing agent before or after silver particles are deposited byreduction by adding a reducing agent to a silver oxide containing slurryor aqueous silver complex salt containing solution, which is formed byadding an alkali or a complexing agent to an aqueous silver saltcontaining solution, while stirring it. Thus, the inventors have madethe present invention.

According one aspect of the present invention, there is provided amethod for producing a silver powder, the method comprising the stepsof: adding a reducing agent to a water reaction system containing atleast one of a silver salt and silver oxide, to deposit silverparticles; and adding a chelating agent to the water reaction system asa dispersing agent. In this method for producing a silver powder, thechelating agent may be added after the reducing agent is added todeposit the silver particles, or the chelating agent may be added beforethe reducing agent is added to deposit the silver particles. Thechelating agent is preferably at least one selected from the groupconsisting of compounds having an azole structure, dicarboxylic acids,hydroxy carboxylic acids and salts thereof.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provideda silver powder having a tap density of 2 g/cm³ or more, a mean particlediameter of 0.1 to 5 μm which is measured by a laser diffraction method,a specific surface area of 5 m²/g or less, and an angle of repose of 50°or less, preferably 45° or less, and more preferably 40° or less. If thetap density is less than 2 g/cm³, silver particles violently cohere, sothat it is difficult to form fine lines. If the mean particle diametermeasured by the laser diffraction method is less than 0.1 μm, theactivity of silver particles increases so that the silver powder is notsuited to be burned at a temperature of 500° C. or higher, although itis possible to form fine lines. On the other hand, if the mean particlediameter measured by the laser diffraction method exceeds 5 μm,dispersibility deteriorates, so that it is also difficult to form finelines. If the specific surface area exceeds 5 m²/g, the viscosity of apaste using the silver powder is too high, so that printingcharacteristics deteriorate. Moreover, as the angle of repose decreases,the flowability of the silver powder increases, so that the silverpowder can be more easily handled. Such a silver powder can be producedby the above described method for producing a silver powder.

According to a further aspect of the present invention, there isprovided a silver powder wherein a film formed by printing a paste,which is prepared by using the silver powder, on a substrate has asurface roughness of 3 μm or less, and wherein silver particles in thepaste has a maximum particle diameter of 30 μm or less, preferably 15 μmor less, and more preferably 7.5 μm or less, when it is measured by agrind gauge. Such a silver powder can be produced by the above describedmethod for producing a silver powder.

According to the present invention, it is possible to produce a silverpowder having excellent dispersibility and capable of forming a pastewhich do not form suspended matters by phase separation and which isprinted on a substrate to form a film having a uniform thickness.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

In a preferred embodiment of a method for producing a silver powderaccording to the present invention, an alkali or a complexing agent,preferably aqueous ammonia, is added to an aqueous silver saltcontaining solution to form a silver oxide containing slurry or anaqueous silver complex salt containing solution, preferably an aqueoussilver ammine complex solution, and an alkali is added thereto forcontrolling the pH of the slurry or solution in order to control theparticle diameter of a silver powder to be produced. Then, after silverparticles are deposited by reduction by adding a reducing agent to thesilver oxide containing slurry or aqueous silver complex salt containingsolution while stirring it, a chelating agent is added to the silvercontaining slurry as a dispersing agent.

Alternatively, after the dispersing agent is added to the silver oxidecontaining slurry or aqueous silver complex salt containing solutionwhile stirring it, silver particles may be deposited by reduction byadding the reducing agent. The chelating agent used as the dispersingagent is preferably selected from the group consisting of compoundshaving an azole structure, dicarboxylic acids, hydroxy carboxylic acidsand salts thereof.

As examples of compounds having an azole structure used as thedispersing agent, there are imidazole, oxazole, thiazole, selenazole,pyrazole, isoxazole, isothiazole, 1H-1,2,3-triazole, 2H-1,2,3-triazole,1H-1,2,4-triazole, 4H-1,2,4-triazole, 1,2,3-oxadiazole,1,2,4-oxadiazole, 1,2,5-oxadiazole, 1,3,4-oxadiazole, 1,2,3-thiadiazole,1,2,4-thiadiazole, 1,2,5-thiadiazole, 1,3,4-thiadiazole,1H-1,2,3,4-tetrazole, 1,2,3,4-oxatriazole, 1,2,3,4-thiatriazole,2H-1,2,3,4-tetrazole, 1,2,3,5-oxatriazole, 1,2,3,5-thiatriazole,indazole, benzoimidazole, benzotriazole and salts thereof.

As examples of dicarboxylic acids used as the dispersing agent, thereare oxalic acid, succinic acid, malonic acid, glutaric acid, adipicacid, pimelic acid, suberic acid, azelaic acid, sebacic acid,didodecanoic acid, maleic acid, fumaric acid, phthalic acid, isophthalicacid and terephthalic acid.

As examples of hydroxy carboxylic acids used as the dispersing agent,there are glycolic acid, lactic acid, hydroxy butyric acid, glycericacid, tartaric acid, malic acid, tartronic acid, hydracrylic acid,mandelic acid, citric acid and ascorbic acid.

The silver containing slurry thus obtained is filtered, washed withwater, dried and pulverized into fine silver particles to obtain asilver powder. In place of the pulverizing into fine silver particles,there may be carried out a surface smoothing process for smoothingirregularities and angular portions on the surface of the silverparticles by mechanically causing the silver particles to collide witheach other by means of an apparatus capable of mechanically fluidizingparticles as described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-80901.

The silver powder thus obtained has a tap density of 2 g/cm³ or more, amean particle diameter of 0.1 to 5 μm which is measured by the laserdiffraction method, a specific surface area of 5 m²/g or less, an angleor repose of 45° or less, and excellent dispersibility.

If the silver powder thus obtained is mixed with a vehicle to form apaste, suspended matters are not formed therein by phase separation. Ifthe paste is printed on a substrate to be dried, the film thus formedhas a surface roughness of 3 μm or less, and the thickness of the filmcan be uniform. If the grain size of silver particles contained in thepaste is evaluated by a grind gauge, the maximum particle diameterD_(max) is 10 μm or less, and the silver particles have excellentdispersibility.

Examples of a silver powder and a method for producing the sameaccording to the present invention will be described below in detail.

EXAMPLE 1

To 3600 ml of an aqueous solution containing 12 g/l silver nitrate assilver ions, 180 ml of 25% aqueous ammonia and 15 ml of an aqueoussolution containing 20 g/l sodium hydroxide were added to obtain anaqueous silver ammine complex salt solution. The temperature of theaqueous silver ammine complex salt solution was maintained at 40° C.,and 192 ml of formalin (an aqueous solution containing 37% formaldehyde)was added to the aqueous silver ammine complex salt solution to depositsilver particles. Thirty seconds after formalin was completely addedthereto, 1% of benzotriazole with respect to the weight of silver wasadded to the slurry. The silver containing slurry thus obtained wasfiltered, washed with water, dried and pulverized into fine silverparticles to obtain a silver powder. The tap density of the obtainedsilver powder was 4.0 g/cm³, and the mean particle diameter of thesilver powder measured by the laser diffraction method was 2.8 μm. Thespecific surface area of the silver powder was 0.34 m²/g, and the angleof repose of the silver powder measured in accordance with JIS R9301-2-2was 40°.

To 35 parts by weight of a vehicle consisting of 30 parts by weight ofacrylic resin (BR605 produced by Mitsubishi Rayon Co., Ltd.) and 70parts by weight of ethyl carbitol acetate, 65 parts by weight of theobtained silver powder was added and sufficiently kneaded to bedispersed by a three-roll mill to obtain a paste. In this paste,suspended matters caused by phase separation were not formed.

The paste thus obtained was printed on a substrate by using a screenmask of 325 meshes, and dried at 150° C. for ten minutes to form a filmon the substrate. Thereafter, the surface roughness of the film of thepaste was measured by a super depth shape measuring microscope (VK-8510produced by KEYENCE). As a result, the surface roughness was 2.1 μm, andthe thickness of the film of the paste was uniform.

The grain size of silver particles contained in the obtained paste wasevaluated by a grind gauge.

As a result, the maximum particle diameter D_(max) was 6 μm, and thefourth scratch (the fourth particle diameter from the maximum particlediameter when the grain size of silver particles in the paste wasmeasured by the grind gauge) was 6 μm. In addition, the mean particlediameter D₅₀ was 3 μm, and excellent dispersibility was obtained.

EXAMPLE 2

To 3600 ml of an aqueous solution containing 12 g/l silver nitrate assilver ions, 180 ml of 25% aqueous ammonia and 15 ml of an aqueoussolution containing 20 g/l sodium hydroxide were added to obtain anaqueous silver ammine complex salt solution. While the temperature ofthe aqueous silver ammine complex salt solution was maintained at 40°C., 0.4 g of an aqueous solution containing 40% benzotriazole sodium wasadded to the aqueous silver ammine complex salt solution, and then, 192ml of formalin (an aqueous solution containing 37% formaldehyde) wasadded thereto to deposit silver particles. The silver containing slurrythus obtained was filtered, washed with water, dried and pulverized intofine silver particles to obtain a silver powder. The tap density of theobtained silver powder was 4.1 g/cm³, and the mean particle diameter ofthe silver powder measured by the laser diffraction method was 3.3 μm.The specific surface area of the silver powder was 0.31 m²/g, and theangle of repose of the silver powder measured in accordance with JISR9301-2-2 was 45° C.

In a paste prepared by the same method as that in Example 1 using thesilver powder obtained in Example 2, suspended matters caused by phaseseparation were not formed. The surface roughness of the film of thepaste measured by the same method as that in Example 1 was 2.7 μm, andthe thickness of the film of the paste was uniform.

Moreover, the grain size of silver particles contained in the paste wasevaluated by a grind gauge similar to Example 1. As a result, themaximum particle diameter D_(max) was 5 μm, and the fourth scratch was 5μm. In addition, the mean particle diameter D₅₀ was 3 μm, and excellentdispersibility was obtained.

EXAMPLE 3

To 3600 ml of an aqueous solution containing 12 g/l silver nitrate assilver ions, 180 ml of 25% aqueous ammonia and 15 ml of an aqueoussolution containing 20 g/l sodium hydroxide were added to obtain anaqueous silver ammine complex salt solution. The temperature of theaqueous silver ammine complex salt solution was maintained at 40° C.,and 192 ml of formalin (an aqueous solution containing 37% formaldehyde)was added to the aqueous silver ammine complex salt solution to depositsilver particles. After formalin was completely added thereto, 0.1% ofsuccinic acid with respect to the weight of silver was added to theslurry. The silver containing slurry thus obtained was filtered, washedwith water, dried and pulverized into fine silver particles to obtain asilver powder. The tap density of the obtained silver powder was 2.6g/cm³, and the mean particle diameter of the silver powder measured bythe laser diffraction method was 4.5 μm. The specific surface area ofthe silver powder was 0.36 m²/g, and the angle of repose of the silverpowder measured in accordance with JIS R9301-2-2 was 40° C.

In a paste prepared by the same method as that in Example 1 using thesilver powder obtained in Example 3, suspended matters caused by phaseseparation were not formed. The surface roughness of the film of thepaste measured by the same method as that in Example 1 was 2.5 μm, andthe thickness of the film of the paste was uniform.

Moreover, the grain size of silver particles contained in the paste wasevaluated by a grind gauge similar to Example 1. As a result, themaximum particle diameter D_(max) was 7 μm, and the fourth scratch was 6μm. In addition, the mean particle diameter D₅₀ was 3 μm, and excellentdispersibility was obtained.

EXAMPLE 4

To 3600 ml of an aqueous solution containing 12 g/l silver nitrate assilver ions, 180 ml of 25% aqueous ammonia and 16 ml of an aqueoussolution containing 75 g/l sodium hydroxide were added to obtain anaqueous silver ammine complex salt solution. The temperature of theaqueous silver ammine complex salt solution was maintained at 40° C.,and 192 ml of formalin (an aqueous solution containing 37% formaldehyde)was added to the aqueous silver ammine complex salt solution to depositsilver particles. After formalin was completely added thereto, 1% ofbenzotriazole with respect to the weight of silver was added to theslurry. The silver containing slurry thus obtained was filtered, washedwith water, and dried to obtain silver particles. Then, the surface ofeach of the silver particles was smoothed by a cylindrical high-speedmixer, which is capable of mechanically fluidizing particles, to obtaina silver powder. The tap density of the obtained silver powder was 4.4g/cm³, and the mean particle diameter of the silver powder measured bythe laser diffraction method was 2.4 μm. The specific surface area ofthe silver powder was 0.46 m²/g, and the angle of repose of the silverpowder measured in accordance with JIS R9301-2-2 was 40°.

In a paste prepared by the same method as that in Example 1 using thesilver powder obtained in Example 4, suspended matters caused by phaseseparation were not formed. The surface roughness of the film of thepaste measured by the same method as that in Example 1 was 2.2 μm, andthe thickness of the film of the paste was uniform.

Moreover, the grain size of silver particles contained in the paste wasevaluated by a grind gauge similar to Example 1. As a result, themaximum particle diameter D_(max) was 5 μm, and the fourth scratch was 5μm. In addition, the mean particle diameter D₅₀ was 3 μm, and excellentdispersibility was obtained.

COMPARATIVE EXAMPLE

To 3600 ml of an aqueous solution containing 12 g/l silver nitrate assilver ions, 180 ml of 25% aqueous ammonia and 15 ml of an aqueoussolution containing 20 g/l sodium hydroxide were added to obtain anaqueous silver ammine complex salt solution. The temperature of theaqueous silver ammine complex salt solution was maintained at 40° C.,and 192 ml of formalin (an aqueous solution containing 37% formaldehyde)was added to the aqueous silver ammine complex salt solution to depositsilver particles. After formalin was completely added thereto, 0.1% ofmyristic acid (fatty acid) with respect to the weight of silver wasadded to the slurry. The silver containing slurry thus obtained wasfiltered, washed with water, dried and pulverized into fine silverparticles to obtain a silver powder. The tap density of the obtainedsilver powder was 3.4 g/cm³, and the mean particle diameter of thesilver powder measured by the laser diffraction method was 3.0 μm. Thespecific surface area of the silver powder was 0.40 m²/g, and the angleof repose of the silver powder measured in accordance with JIS R9301-2-2was 55° which was far greater than those in Examples 1 through 4.

In a paste prepared by the same method as that in Example 1 using thesilver powder obtained in this comparative example, suspended matterscaused by phase separation were formed. The surface roughness of thefilm of the paste measured by the same method as that in Example 1 was3.2 μm, and the thickness of the film of the paste was not uniform.Moreover, the grain size of silver particles contained in the paste wasevaluated by a grind gauge similar to Example 1. As a result, themaximum particle diameter D_(max) was 33 μm, and the fourth scratch was7 μm. In addition, the mean particle diameter D₅₀ was 4 μm, and gooddispersibility was not obtained.

The results in Examples 1 through 4 and Comparative Example are shown inTables 1 through 3.

TABLE 1 timing in adding dispersing agent dispersing agent Example 1benzotriazole after adding reducing agent Example 2 benzotriazole beforeadding sodium reducing agent Example 3 succinic acid after adding(dicarboxylic reducing agent acid) Example 4 benzotriazole after addingreducing agent Comparative myristic acid after adding Example (fattyacid) reducing agent

TABLE 2 mean specific tap particle surface angle density diameter areaof (g/cm³) (μm) (m²/g) repose Example 1 4.0 2.8 0.34 40° Example 2 4.13.3 0.31 45° Example 3 2.6 4.5 0.36 40° Example 4 4.4 2.4 0.46 40°Comparative 3.4 3.0 0.40 55° Example

TABLE 3 surface grind gauge suspended roughness (μm) matters (μm)D_(max) 4th D₅₀ Example 1 none 2.1 6 6 3 Example 2 none 2.7 5 5 3Example 3 none 2.5 7 6 3 Example 4 none 2.2 5 5 3 Comparative existence3.2 33 7 4 Example

1. A silver powder having a tap density of 2 g/cm³ or more, a meanparticle diameter of 0.1 to 5 μm which is measured by a laserdiffraction method, a specific surface area of 5 m²/g or less, and anangle of repose of 50° or less.
 2. A silver powder as set forth in claim1, wherein said angle of repose is 45° or less.
 3. A silver powder asset forth in claim 1, wherein a film formed by printing a paste, whichis prepared by using said silver powder, on a substrate has a surfaceroughness of 3 μm or less, and wherein silver particles in said pastehas a maximum particle diameter of 30 μm or less which is measured by agrind gauge.
 4. A silver powder as set forth in claim 3, wherein saidmaximum particle diameter of said silver particles in said paste is 15μm or less.
 5. A silver powder as set forth in claim 3, wherein saidmaximum particle diameter of said silver particles in said paste is 7.5μm or less.